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Orthodox Doctrine (Summary of Christian Divinity)
Metropolitan Platon of Moscow, tr. Pinkerton, 1814
Part 2, Section 3: Of the Substantial Contents of the Holy Scriptures
Jesus Christ, our Saviour, is the whole strength and substance of the Holy Scriptures, who was appointed before the beginning of time for our glory, believed on from the foundation of the world, announced by the prophets, and prefigured by sacrifices and ceremonies.
1. There are different things contained in the Holy Scriptures, as the commandments of the law, rules of morality, prophecies, accounts of different revelations which God made of himself to man, miracles, and promises; together with many accounts of the transactions of men. However, all these tend to nothing else but to the revelation of the eternal counsels of God, concerning the salvation of mankind through our Saviour Jesus Christ. Thus, for instance, the law, by bringing us to the knowledge of our guilt before God, leads us to seek for a Deliverer; the prophecies proclaim his approach; the sacrifices point him out; the different revelations which God made of himself, either prepare us to receive the faith of Christ, or illustrate more clearly the acts of our Saviour. And all the promises of God, in assuring us of the mercy of our heavenly Father, rest on Jesus Christ, as our Mediator with God. The Holy Scriptures are filled with proofs of these truths. We shall advance a few: John i. 45, “We have found him, of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write.” 2 Cor. i. 20, “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen;” that is, all the gracious promises of God have their foundation in him.
2. All the divine purposes are from eternity, amongst which the incarnation of the Son of God, and the cleansing us from our sins by his death, are the most exalted. 1 Cor. ii. 7, “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory.” On this account also, in the book of Revelation, the Saviour is styled, “the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world.”
3. The foundation of the gospel faith, was laid at the very beginning of the world.
To the first man, Adam, God proclaimed his gracious will, and not only to him, but to all the children of men, in the following truly evangelical words: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel,” Gen. iii. 15. The meaning of these words is this: The serpent is the devil, the seed of the serpent the wicked, and such as persecute the truth. The seed of the woman is Christ, Gal. iv. 4. The seed of Christ are the righteous and virtuous. Christ bruises the head of the serpent when he destroys sin, and the wicked at last shall be bruised: but the serpent bruised the heel of Christ, in putting him to death according to the flesh, by his servants the wicked, and when he persecutes those that believe in him, though he cannot prevent their salvation.
These important glad tidings, as was requisite, were heartily received by our first father. And thus we see the foundation of faith at the very beginning of the world. His pious posterity followed this example, as Paul witnesses, Heb. xi. 2. “For by it (faith) the ancients obtained a good report.” Afterwards, this same faith was promised, and not only once, but repeatedly, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, in the following words: “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Hence, the apostle Paul to the Romans, chap. iv. calleth Abraham not only a believer, and justified by the faith of Jesus Christ, but the father of all believers; that is, that all Christians, desiring to be justified before God, ought to take Abraham for an example. And thus every one will clearly see, that the faith of Jesus Christ was founded at the very beginning of the world.
4. The blessings of the gospel predicted by the prophets.
That the truths of the gospel might be more evident, and less doubtful, God was graciously pleased to make known through the prophets, in various ways, for many ages before, what should come to pass. All of them, with one spirit, in the most sublime expressions, predicted the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The number of these prophecies is so great, that, in place of quoting any in particular, I shall only mark the texts of a few of them: Gen. xlix. 10; Psalm lxxii.; Isaiah ii. and xi. and liii. and lx.; Jer. xxiii. 6. and xxxi. 31—34; Ezek. xxxiv. 23; Dan. ix. 24. to the end of the chapter; Hos. ii. 18; Amos ix. 11; Mic. v. 2; Hab. iii. 2; Zacch. ii. 10. and xiv. 8; Mal. iii. 1.
5. The reasons why sacrifices were abolished.
The Heathen slew many different kinds of animals, and presented them as offerings to their gods; and some nations even sacrificed their own children as burnt-offerings. These acts of sacrificing amongst Heathens appear to have had their origin in this, that in their own consciences they found themselves guilty before God, and under his just wrath, which they thought to appease, by the offering of sacrifices, and shedding of the blood of animals. Yet, according to the words of the apostle, “it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.” Heb. x. 4. Notwithstanding this, God, in the laws given to Moses, prescribed different kinds of sacrifices to be offered: Yet these offerings could not serve in the least to take away the sins of men, as is evident from the above words of the apostle; and also from Heb. x. 11. which words, in particular, refer to the Jewish sacrifices: “And every priest standeth daily ministering, and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.” It is therefore necessary, to find out the reasons why God appointed such sacrifices.
In the Holy Scriptures, we find two reasons given, 1. That man might confess his guilt before God; and that he has deserved nothing but to be slain by the wrath of God, as the animals offered in sacrifice were slain. Hence, God commanded the offerers of the sacrifice, to lay their hands upon the head of the beast to be slain, Lev. iv. 15. This silent confession of guilt, pointed out to man the necessity of seeking for a Deliverer and Mediator. 2. That these sacrifices might prefigure that glorious sacrifice which should come, the Lamb, Jesus Christ, without blemish, who died for our sins on the cross. The prefiguration consisted in this: If the shedding of blood is calculated to produce in every one the feeling of compassion, how much more is the pure blood of the Son of God calculated to excite the compassion of our heavenly Father towards us, who is offended because of our iniquities? If the blood of beasts could sanctify to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ wash our souls from the filthiness of sin? Such are the reasonings of St Paul to the Hebrews, chap. ix. and x. where, amongst other things, it is written, “The law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices, which they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect,” chap. x. 1. And even Heathen sacrifices might have been useful in this way, if men had thereby been led to a confession of their guilt before God, and to seek a better way of justification in his sight.
In respect to the rites, or holy ceremonies of the Jews, they also, as visible signs, prefigured the invisible blessings of the gospel. Thus, for instance, spiritual circumcision; that is, a cutting off of the corrupt passions, and the destruction of sin, through the grace of Christ. The paschal lamb was a sign also of our partaking by faith, of the most holy Lamb Jesus Christ. The brazen serpent in the wilderness, likewise, prefigured our Saviour hanging on the cross, &c.